The laundry process generally has several benefits for fabric, the most common being to remove dirt and stains from the fabric during the wash cycle and to soften the fabric during the rinse cycle. However, there are numerous disadvantages associated with repeated use of conventional laundry treatment compositions and/or the actual laundry process; one of these being a fairly harsh treatment of fabric in the laundry process.
The present invention is directed towards maintaining the new appearance of fabric and enhancing the feel and softness of the fabric despite the laundering process. Examples of retained fabric appearance are that the fabric retains its original colour (that is less dye loss and dye transfer), does not fuzz or pill, prevents the fabric from bagging and maintains its surface definition and appearance.
A further advantage of the present invention is that fabrics treated with the composition have a tendency to become less creased and/or wrinkled and do not become thin due to the loss of fibres.
In laundry cleaning or treatment products, it is essential for some ingredients to be deposited onto and adhere to the fabric for them to deliver their beneficial effects. Typical examples are fabric conditioners or softeners.
WO 00/18860 and WO 00/18861 describe agents which deposit cellulose or cellulose-like materials onto the fabric to at least partially replace the lost material of the fibre and which add to the softening of fabrics.
EP-A-0 084 772 discloses a graft polymer dispersion comprising a vinyl-containing organopolysiloxane, an organopolysiloxane with unsubstituted silicon atom and polymerised units of vinyl monomers. Aqueous emulsions of these materials are used as water repellents to be applied to textiles during manufacture, whilst also endowing a softening and smoothing effect. Unlike conventional silicones they are said to offer the advantage of retaining elasticity and  recovery  of the weave. There is also a disclosure of strengthening of textiles during manufacture by application of acrylates, polyacrylates and polymetacrylates.
WO-A-98/29528 discloses cellulose ethers in which some substituents are (poly)alkoxylated, analogues of the latter in which the (poly)alkoxylated groups are terminated with a cationic moiety in the form of a quaternary ammonium group, and cellulose ethers in which some substituents are carboxylic acids in the salt form (i.e. the materials are essentially carboxymethylcellulose variants
WO-A-99/14245 discloses laundry detergent compositions containing cellulosic based polymers to provide appearance and integrity benefits to fabrics. These polymers are cellulosic polymers in which the saccharide rings have pendant oxygen atoms to which substituents R′ are bonded, i.e. they are attached to the rings via an ether linkage. The groups R′ can be hydrogen, lower alkyl or alkylene linkages terminated by carboxylic acid, ester or amide groups. Optionally, up to five alkyleneoxy groups may be interspersed between the groups are the respective oxygen atom.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,328 discloses material for tobacco smoke filters comprising cellulose fibres containing amino groups which is prepared by reacting cellulose with dichloroaminotriazines, trichlorotriazines, trichlorodiazines, tetrachlorodiazines, 2,3-dichloroquinoxalines, divinyl sulfone, epichlorohydrin or cyanogen bromide and the cellulose derivatives thus obtained are subsequently reacted with amino compounds such as ammonia, guanidine and amino acids, such as, arginine, histidine, tryptophane, α,γ-diaminobutyric acid, ornithine, citrulline and canavanine.
Definition of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laundry treatment composition comprising:    i) a polymer having an average repeat unit of:
in which R1-6 is independently of one another selected from H, a hydrolysable group, or a fibre reactive group in which when R1-6 are a hydrolyzable group the degree of substitution is 0 to 1, and wherein R1-6 is a fibre reactive group the degree of substitution is from 0.05 to 1 and;    ii) a carrier agent selected from surfactants, softening compounds or water with the proviso that when the carrier agent is water the composition further comprises perfume.
In the context of the present invention a hydrolysable group is defined as a group which undergoes hydrolysis under domestic laundering conditions
In the context of the invention a fibre reactive group is defined as a group capable of forming a co-valent bond with a cellulose based fabric under domestic laundering conditions.
The invention also relates to use of the polymer described above for the softening of fabrics, colour care of fabrics (wherein colour care relates to colour fixing, dye transfer inhibition) and the prevention of wrinkles of fabrics.
The invention describes a new molecule having a polymeric structure having an average repeat unit of:
in which R is a combination of groups the following COCH3 (having a degree of substitution of 0 to 1),
(having a degree of substitution of 0.05 to 1) and H (having a degree of substitution to balance the formula); wherein the substituent groups can be located in any of the R positions.
A method of manufacturing the polymers described above is described comprising the steps of:    i) dissolving the cellulose ester in an appropriate non aqueous solvent;    ii) adding a base and cyanuric halide;    iii) allowing the reaction to proceed;    iv) purifying the resulting product.